Feeling refreshed after 2 nights at anchor off the beach at Kitagi, we were ready to go complete our sailing journey of 2013…. with mixed feelings. At the end of this last leg, we will plunge ourselves into a super packed 2 weeks to prepare Calliste for shipping. Not something that we look forward to, but we have to get it over and done with before we can get to the next sailing season… which we hope to be in much more fun conditions, milder weather and beautiful surroundings… 🙂 .. can you guess where we are headed to?

Look! Its a theme park!

Anyway, so here we are, leaving Kitagi at noon, so that we will make it to our next pass at 1500hrs. We timed it such that we have some current under our keel but not too strong to give us any trouble. Colin tells us that the worst passes are behind us already, so nothing to worry about… okie, I hope so..

Well, so this is my 1st under the bridge passing in daylight.. and perfect for pictures. 🙂 Snap away.

On approaching the 1st pass just after Kitagi, there were signs of a advanced (decadent) civilization… a theme park! I can imagine.. the view from those rides must be exhilarating. Wonder if they can see us in our little boat looking at them with our bino 🙂

Approaching the Akashi Kaikyo bridge

… And the pass itself was… yawn… so un-happening … after all our thrilling night pass-passing, this was a total non-event. .. so Colin was right, nothing to worry eh.

We camped (anchored) overnight at a marina in a beautiful location… kinda sneaked in and out without anyone knowing. In at 8pm and out by 6am… Was nice and quiet and cool… We are definitely liking the cooler temperature in the inland sea. Remember, it was 37 deg at Fukuoka!

Arrrggghhhhh…… …. turn back captain!

We had hoped to make the next pass, Akashi Kaikyo at 1700hrs. That is the time where the current change in our direction and after the peak flow… or so we hope..

This pass is the last and only 3hrs to further to Osaka, so it had all sorts of buildings built around it. .. but the bridge itself is really tall… Quite spectacular, dun ya think?

We are 15MT height sailboat going under 65MT bridge!

1400hrs to 1700hrs, we were fighting current and 1MT waves on approaching the pass, making average 3.5kns. No hurry, no problem, just not very comfy thats all.

1700hrs, we stick closer to the right of the channel, letting the big boys pass us on the left… strangely, there are lots of turbulence and chops on the approach… uh oh… what are we in for this time..?

… well, actually, this is different. Previously, we had turbulence after the pass, but this time, the turbulence was before the pass… hmm… I wonder why… but I am sure there is a logical explanation to it.

passing once

Evidence! Thats us, 15MT from the peak passing under a 65MT height limit bridge! What the picture cant show is the 50MT clear space between the top of our mast to the lowest rail on that bridge.

The passing height limit is stated in the chart. The lowest we passed under was 31MT at Kitagi, all others were 65MT… but its always a little unnerving approaching the bridge and looking up at our mast, wondering if its gonna clear… altho we know that we would … Calliste is 15MT max, and yet all the logic could not convince Doug to relax…

Passing twice

Passing over

1800hrs, we passed under the bridge in beautiful weather and the turbulence stopped. We are flowing rather quickly with the 2kns behind us and look at the quick series of snaps as we move away from the bridge.

Leaving our last pass behind us

1830hrs, okie, we passed all the passes… time to relax… and what a beautiful sunset. Time to bring out the cocktails. 🙂 …

2000hrs, its a dark night out and we are coasting into Osaka, dodging a few ships and some anchored ones… looking for leading lights. Navigating on the detailed Navionics chart on Ip4d really helps, altho it doesnt pin point our location (as mine dont have the GSM/GPS position fixing). Just getting the correct light info and matching it visually, we were able to get into the marina with no difficulty at all… of course, we had internet and could see the Google satellite picture and that helps too. 2100hrs, we are tied up at Osaka Hokko yacht harbor… time for a good rest. Bentos will have to wait.